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Art X Detroit will bring Kresge fellows' work to Midtown's streets

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Art X Detroit is a new five-day arts experience taking place April 6-10 that will celebrate 38 local Kresge Foundation Artist Fellowship awardees and Kresge Eminent Artists. Produced by the University Cultural Center Association, Art X organizers announced plans to display the works of local talents throughout the streets of Midtown. "Art X is a Detroit-centric experience
presenting newly commissioned works and performances. It is only
fitting that some of these installations take the public outside where
the City of Detroit also plays a starring role," says UCCA's Annmarie Borucki.

A large-scale sculpture by Kresge Eminent Artist Charles McGee, entitled "Spirit Renewal," will consist of 54 contrasting black and white shapes layered on top of a curved aluminum base. The 8' x 22' sculpture will be located in front of the Horace H. Rackham Memorial Building across from the DIA. "Spirit Renewal" will be a permanent
installation in Midtown, as part of the Midtown Detroit Loop Greenway
Public Art Program," says Borucki. "However, for Art X, it will be temporarily
installed, until that time the weather improves when it is better for
digging the permanent foundations for the sculpture." She anticipates the sculpture will be permanently installed this May.

"Charles McGee's
sculpture, "Spirit Renewal," will not only be a permanent offering from
Art X, but will also
come to symbolize the new spirit that has recently invigorated
redevelopment in Midtown Detroit and along the Woodward Corridor," Borucki says.

"Street Folk," an installation by Heidelberg Project creator Tyree Guyton, is both a collection of over 10,000 pairs of shoes on a closed-off city street and a social commentary on homelessness. It will be installed in Midtown's Brush Park neighborhood on Edmund Place between Woodward Ave. and John R.

Another installation, the Wire Car Parking Lot at Tech II, draws on the African cultural practice of creating wire cars that are pushed by a stick. The cars have been created by both neighborhood collaborators and contributors from Zimbabwe, the birthplace of artist Chido Johnson. The miniature parking structure will be on display at Tech II throughout the month of April.

Cedric Tai's Art X project reaches out to the public for inspiration. Tai creates what he calls "brixels" -- a combination of "brick" and "pixels -- utilizing online designs that are blown up in scale and reflected on walls as public murals. Through an online tool he and collaborator Dan Marchwinski call the "tesselation generator," users can create their own brixel designs, which have the potential to be chosen by Tai to be transferred onto three buildings in the Midtown neighborhood during Art X Detroit. Create your design here.

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